Letters to the Editor
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I always thought...
...that "musicologist" was a word that the Car Talk guys made up for their gag credits.
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Can we stop with "God Bless America" already?
Am I the only one who thinks it's time to retire "God Bless America" as a 7th inning stretch song? Do we need to "honor our troops" in the middle of every baseball game? I know it's almost blasphemous in this country to suggest this sort of thing. I know that we all must try to outdo each other to proclaim our deep and undying support and reverance for "the troops." But can't we spend three hours at the ballpark without the war being referenced? I know there are people in the armed services making sacrifices, but why do sporting events seem to be the venue for reminding us of that? Why doesn't Salon post a link to patriotic music so we can "honor the troops" when we visit the site? Why doesn't my company pipe in the Marine Corps hymn at lunch time to "honor the troops?" Why don't we interrupt every episode of "American Idol" with Paula Abdul singing "America" to honor the troops?
Just asking. Rant over.
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the baseball song
Thank you for that wonderful piece of baseball history. I lived within walking distance of Wrigley Field for a few years and became a baseball fan by first becoming Cubs game fan. Wrigley Field is the world's greatest beer garden. And we Cubs fans cherish the song. Are we the only ones to make such a production of it anymore?
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"The Baseball Songbook"
Only on "king Kaufman's Sports Daily"! Do we need further explication why this is the best, most interesting, most varied sports venue available? Also, to MarkL - I agree with your rant 100%
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Take me out to the ballgame
My two-year old daughter just *loves* TMOTTBG. We watch the Gene Kelly/Sinatra version on Youtube over and over and over (although it's the Nelly Kelly version, not Katie Casey). And we took her to her first ballgame the other day, and the seventh-inning stretch was like a revelation to her--thousands of people standing up and singing it together. Maybe it's just a fad--she loves "Happy Birthday to You" just as much.
But listening to the verses 100 times has made me wonder--what's the significance of having a prime-of-life female baseball fan insisting on going to the ballgame? Why not a small boy, for example? Or an old man? Was there something titillating in 1908 about a woman who prefers baseball to "going to a show"? Was (or is) it a male fantasy to have a female companion who "would root just like any man" and who heckles the umpire?
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Yeah
I'm a little tired of God Bless America too. Though I think the reason we sing martial, jingoistic songs at sporting events isn't that mystifying. Sports are rife with martial metaphors, both in the way they're talked about and in the way they're played.
Here is my question. How come the fellow's answers to the most interesting questions King asked basically boiled down to "I dunno."
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Not just God Bless America
Why do we sing "The Star Spangled Banner"?
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fan singing
The soccer fan songbook is surprisingly short. While there are numerous lyrical permutations, musically every song is apparently either "Go West" by the Village People (aka Canon in D) or "You'll Never Walk Alone."
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One more thing to retire with God Bless America -
Can we just cancel any game at Camden where the organist and crowd start the Star Spangled Banner with "Oooooooooooooooooooooh say can you see?" It's annoying and disrespectful.
Great column. It's also an example of the culture being lost to the endless extension of copyright to protect Mickey Mouse.
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This Land is My Land
I attended an indie league game in Elmira, New York some years ago where they played This Land is My Land at the seventh inning stretch. It warmed the cockles of my heart.
As for God Bless America, even apart from its musical failings, I object to treating it as if it were the national anthem. We are expected to stand up, take our hats off, and adopt solemn expressions. We have an actual national anthem. Contrary to widespread opinion, I think we have a pretty darned good one. (That question about does the flag still fly over the land of the free? There are two questions there: is the flag still flying, and is the land still free? God Bless America does not ask similarly awkward questions.) I don't want faux national anthem in addition to it.
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Baseball songs
Bob Dylan hosts a weekly satellite radio show on XM called "Theme Time Radio Hour." One of his shows featured baseball songs, an entire hour's worth. A CD of the show is, or was, available -- I got one included as a promo when I bought his last album, "Modern Times." Definitely worth finding a copy if you're into baseball songs.
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No more baseball songs
A great column today, but there is one point that I need to clear up:
"Why don't popular songwriters write about sports now?"
Just off the top of my head, John Fogerty wrote a great song about baseball. And baseball plays a signifficant role in songs by Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon.
Didn't Bob Dylan write a great song about a boxer? But that is not very recent.
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Bobby D - "Catfish"
Dylan did a song called "Catfish" about Catfish Hunter.
He did two that I know of about boxers "Hurricane" and "Who Killed Davey Moore"
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Dylan's Baseball Show
I should clarify -- they weren't his own songs. He was just the DJ. They were mostly stuff from the 30s-50s, songs about Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson and such. Very cool stuff.
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Mandy Patinkin
I have a Mandy Patinkin album, "Mamaloshen," which includes a two-song medley of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and "God Bless America" in Yiddish. Believe it or not, there are also Yiddish versions of "White Christmas" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" on the album.
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Why do some songs catch on?
I think it's simplicity. "Take me out to the Ballgame," "God Bless America" -- they're slow, plodding and simple, and any boob can sing them because they require no vocal range. Easy songs for a big group to sing along to. Just like the "Happy Birthday" song. Oh, and "We Will Rock You" ... can it get any more simplistic than that?
P.S. I'm on board, MarkL.